“How the demographic shift could hurt Democrats too”……. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-the-demographic-shift-could-hurt-democrats-too/2013/03/08/de82ab38-8128-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html
Putting aside the poor research methodology. Demographics, present and trending, is both the cause and indicator, (but not the driving cause) of the future recruitment problems facing the Republican Party (GOP). The problem is centered in their ideas, or as some would say, the lack of. Any “business plan” that calls for an appeal to a shrinking customer base is doomed to fail. Food chains like Burger King and McDonald are seeking to now appear more “health conscious” because the consumers are showing a greater interest in health and caloric intake. The former “Fast” label that was their claim to fame is less appealing, since many food outlets (i.e. Chipotle) have learned to serve food fast and healthier. The Republicans need an MBA marketing team, not a bad social science researcher, who acting like a celebrity “groupie” tells them what they want to hear, as opposed to what they need to hear. The GOP has decided to pursue policies that appeal to a small shrinking segment of the American population. The author’s thesis here, is that this cohort can be artificially grown. It is the height of wishful thinking to believe that bad ideas could just be “artificially implanted” (I just couldn’t help it) into a generation of Americans, such that they would shift their politically loyalties. The real problem is in the details of policies that are based on principles that offend a larger, and growing segment of the population. Women for example are going to seek more, and better equality in all segments of society; and to the GOP’s dismay, complete control concerning matters that affect their personal physiology. Those same women are going to join a large coalition of Americans who want to see support, not senseless cuts to education and health care. The writer forgets that Democrats, unlike the Republicans have been learning for some time how to “manage” their language. We have not heard them use the word “Liberal” in quite a while; and even the ascendancy of the first Black President has not stop the trend started by the Clinton administration of going silent on the vocabulary of helping the “Poor” (heavily concentrated in our communities of color). The poor (working and not working) have been dropped for a serious, exclusive and committed relationship with the “Middle-Class”. There is however, a glimmer of hope for the GOP in that the Democrats are now running real scared of sounding, well, compassionate and caring toward those in our society who are suffering due to no fault of their own. The Democrats could in the future, overplay this appeal to those “hard to find and define”; independents and ‘moderate conservatives’. I predict (since we are in the utilizing bad research mode) that as the economy improves, unemployment drops and the employed feel more secure in their present jobs; Americans will shift toward a more giving and caring society (Oh, that dreaded word, “entitlements”; imagine being entitled to a decent: home, food, health and education, being something bad!). This can’t bode well for the Grand Opposition Party. To stop the bleeding, and rationalize their presence in government, they are going to have to start being for something, as opposed to being against most things governmental. But “Birthing” (I could not help it again) more old conservative angry White Guys, is not happening. We can juggle research data to say whatever we want it to say; but the maternity ward numbers don’t lie. And even if they put some type of love potion into bottles, and distribute them to the Tea Party faithful; we humans, unlike some other organisms on the planet, aren’t built for producing large numbers of offspring. This means the GOP is fighting a three front war against: mathematics,science and time. The end is predictable; for as those Motown biologists, the Supremes, have told us; our species can do research; but we “Can’t Hurry Love”
